n summary, the defining theme of 2000s at the box office was that it had no defining themes. Over the course of 10 years there were some transformations and some things remained constant. The decade started being ruled by apparent versions of 'Pyaar', 'Mohabbatein', and otherwise 4 word+ film titles denoting the same, and shot largely overseas as Kaho Na Pyaar Hai was 2000's biggest blockbuster. The decade ended with convention-defying irreverent 'Idiots' of Indian engineering colleges ruling the charts.

Collectionwise primary change from 2000 to 2009 was that by 2009 multiplexes were firmly entrenched in calling the shots which defined box office top slots. In even the famous producers/distributors vs multiplexes showdown of 2009, it was the multiplexes which prevailed, showing their extraordinary pull in generating the Rs. 300/ticket crowds.

Atleast 4 times India's box office collection records were broken this decade, compared to just 1 time during the 1990s (HAHK) and none during the 1980s. Gadar in 2001 broke HAHK, In 2006 Gadar's record was broken. In 2008, 2006's topper was beaten. And in 2009, 2008's record grosser was surpassed. In comparision, the 1970s top grosser Sholay held the record for 19 years.

There was no clear cut superstar of the decade either. Though at some awards, Shahrukh Khan and Aishwarya Rai were given stars of the decade awards of some sort, Shahrukh Khan had neither the biggest hit of the decade nor the biggest initial draw. On a per film average basis, Aamir Khan emerged the top star of the 2000s box office led by a megamoneyspinner 3 Idiots at the very end. However he did only 9 films the entire 10 years. In terms of total business generated, it was Akshay Kumar whose 41 films did almost Rs. 900 crores in net business across the decade for the top slot. So either Akshay Kumar or Aamir Khan can be termed 'Star of the Decade'. For those interested in the 1990s, it was tossup between Salman Khan and Shahrukh Khan with the former's HAHK being a bigger hit than the latter's DDLJ. For the 1970s and 1980s, Amitabh Bachchan was the undisputed #1. Amitabh Bachchan starrers recorded the highest box office figures for both openings and grossers in both those decades. In fact Amitabh maintained a top 10 box office rank during this decade also, featuring in most number of Bombay recordbreaking openers including Bunty&Babli, Kaante and Sarkar I. But the top 5 stars of the 2000s decade on a per film collection basis were in order: Aamir Khan, Hrithik Roshan, Shah Rukh Khan, Akshay Kumar and Abhishek Bachchan. Hrithik Roshan may have been a viable contender for decade's top slot at one point but he ran out of steam and pace slacked off. He was last seen in supporting role in 2009 flop Luck by Chance. The biggest dropoff from the 1990s was registered by Sunny Deol and Govinda, both in their 50s now, though in the case of the former, there was a massive blockbuster in Gadar and moderate one in the The Hero in the first half of the decade.

For actresses, it was Katrina Kaif, actress of films like Welcome, Sarkar, Race and Ajab Prem Ki Ghajab Kahani, who was the star of the decade in terms of average collections of films the actress featured in, whereas going by totals it was Kareena Kapoor (boosted greatly by the 180+ crore net business of 3 Idiots in which she had an insignificant role). There were hardly any heroine led hits however, barring a few exceptions like Preity Zinta's Kya Kehna (2000), Tabu's Chandni Bar (2001), Bipasha Basu's Corporate (2006), Priyanka Chopra's Fashion (2008), all relative low grossers compared to the conventional hero led hits or even heroine led hits of the past decades (Hema Malini's Seeta aur Geeta in the 1970s, Sridevi's Nagina in the 1980s). The biggest heroine centric hit of the decade was probably Rani Mukherji's Black. And Rani Mukherji came closest to that conventional Hema Malini/Sridevi #1 stature that year by giving a commercial blockbuster after a critically acclaimed box office hit Black in Bunty & Babli the same year (2005). However that run was shortlived, and Rani Mukherji had been fading away much the latter part of the decade. On the other hand, her contemporary Aishwarya Rai was fading in the middle part of the decade but recovered with an appearance in Bunty&Babli, and subsequently seen in some successful films through the latter part of the decade. A superstar of the 1990s, Madhuri Dixit appeared in a select selection of films through 2000-2007, most of which including Aaja Nachle did not work. Given much of the credit for 1990s biggest hit HAHK, Madhuri Dixit's 2000s decade rank ended up tallying between #11-#16. The female star ranked a few slots ahead of Madhuri Dixit in all time box office charts, Hema Malini, had a box office hit this decade also. Hema Malini starrer Baghban was in fact a silver jubilee superhit in 2003. Her successor Sridevi did not have any major releases during the 2000s except for a non-descript Meri Biwi Ka Jawab Nahin in 2004.

And as part of this IBOS exclusive, it was also to be investigated how the directors of the industry performed at the box office over these last 10 years. It turned out even here, there was a tossup. For example, Priyadarshan emerges the top director of the decade in having his films having generated total business of a huge Rs. 310 crores net. However it took him 14 films to reach that mark, thus Priyadarshan directed fares averaged a more normal Rs. 22 crores net per film. Rajkumar Hirani only attempted 3 films across the entire decade but each of them were superhits or blockbusters, totalling 221 crores off 3 films for a spectacular average of Rs. 73 crores per film. So the 'Director of the Decade' was either Rajkumar Hirani or Priyadarshan, just as the actor Star of the Decade was essentially between Aamir Khan and Akshay Kumar, depending on the ranking criteria invoked.

Some other notable directors of the decade included Anees Bazmee, Rakesh Roshan, Ram Gopal Varma, and Vikram Bhatt.